Date set for AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Mississippi State's 10-3 victory over Central Florida drew enough television attention that ESPN wanted the game to be part of a Jan. 2 day of Southeastern Conference bowl games.

Bill Waugh/Associated Press

Get ready for a triple-decker Jan. 2 Southeastern Conference bowl sandwich with the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in the middle.

Buoyed by last year's sellout crowd and high TV ratings, the bowl will play its 50th anniversary game at 4 p.m. on the second day of 2009, a Friday, between the Cotton Bowl which kicks off at 1 p.m. and Sugar Bowl which starts at 7:20.

It's the first time in the bowl's history that the game will be played in January. It has been played on Dec. 31 10 times, including eight of the last 10 years.

"Historically in college football, the most prestige for a bowl is to play on Jan. 1 or 2," said Steve Ehrhart, executive director of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. "Now to be in company with revered bowls such as the Cotton and the Sugar, and to have our own television window, it's the very best combination of a great television opportunity and fan travel for our bowl. We've carved out some great steps in the last few years, and we want to keep it going.

The game for the third straight year features the Conference USA champion taking on an SEC opponent. It is set to be televised by ESPN for the 19th consecutive year, and ESPN director of programming Dave Brown is ecstatic to position the bowl between two other bowls that have SEC tie-ins.

"It makes it an SEC day for 10 hours on that Friday, and I love it," Brown said. "I think more than any other conference, SEC fans are tuned in to see how the other guy is doing, whether they are rooting for them or not."

And certainly not to forget C-USA, league commissioner Britton Banowsky applauds the move to Jan. 2.

"We appreciate this date as it provides an even higher profile for this great bowl game," Banowsky said. "We appreciate the move and look forward to the game being after the New Year."

SEC commissioner Mike Slive was not available for comment.

A couple of factors influenced Brown and Ehrhart to decide on Jan. 2.

One was the overwhelming success, at turnstiles and the TV ratings, of last year's game, won by SEC rep Mississippi State, 10-3, over Conference USA champion Central Florida.

The game drew the largest crowd (63,816) in AutoZone Liberty Bowl history and produced the fourth highest TV rating among the 27 non-BCS bowls. The bowl had a 4.14 rating, or about 15 million to 20 million viewers. It was the third highest rating since ESPN began telecasting the bowl in 1990.

"When Friday Jan. 2 pops open once every seven years (because of a Leap Year), it's an official holiday," Brown said. "Everybody is off, and from a ratings perspective it really works well. At a time when the AutoZone Liberty Bowl is coming off a 4-plus rating, we thought Jan. 2 would be another great opportunity to knock out a big rating.

"We know that getting the Conference USA champion against a good SEC team gives us a running start getting a desirable matchup every year. We know the AutoZone Liberty Bowl will give us a strong game. When that happens, we want to give them a strong window. The bowl will have about a slot of 21/2 hours to 2:45 where it will be the only game being shown."

Ehrhart said he considered Dec. 27 and Jan. 3 as other dates, but Dec. 27 is too close to Christmas and Jan. 3 is an NFL playoff date in the upcoming season.

After consulting several athletic directors in both the SEC and Conference USA, as well as the bowl's hotel partners The Peabody and the Hilton, Jan. 2 became the target date.

"After talking with the hotels, we felt the Jan. 2 date created the best opportunity to get the most people to Memphis," Ehrhart said. "The days of Jan. 1, 2 and 3 are normally quiet for hotels here, so the hotels feel the Jan. 2 date will create a great economic opportunity. And we're going to work with Beale Street to create more events besides our parade."

Brown said the bowl reaching the 50th anniversary milestone also contributed to the primo January spot.

"We really wanted to do something special for the golden anniversary of the game," Brown said. "We wanted to put the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on the same day with two of the most respected brands in the bowl business."

BOWL LINEUP FOR JAN. 2, 2009

The AutoZone Liberty Bowl announced Tuesday that its next matchup of an SEC team vs. the Conference USA champion will be played in a prime spot between two major SEC bowls: